Life's a Stitch

I have a policy of never saying never because, in some way or another, it happens. But I know for a fact that I’ve never said I’m never going to Bratislava and now it’s happening. Are you following this? It was a long week and I’ve had a glass or two of wine.

Many years ago I met a new immigrant to Canada from Soviet Georgia. She and her family had a tough slog of it, but with amazingly hard work, things have worked out. She is the one responsible for this trip, having told me about a favourite traditional Eastern European health spa in Slovakia. Long story short – my knitting SIL, Ellen, and I are going there in February.

It’s called Spa Thermia in Piestny near Bratislava, Slovakia (I like that word, Bratislava, the way it rolls off the tongue; I wonder if it will sound the same without the wine?). Seriously, off season, for as little as 49E per night you get full room and board, medical consultation and spa treatments. You can stay in the palace for 90E. This is the perfect way to mark 30 years of work in social services. They specialize "in treatment of diseases of ambulatory apparatus," and, if you follow my blog, you know I have problems with my ambulatory apparatus.

Can you feel my happy dance? Of course my ambulatory apparatus is appropriately braced in order to do that dance. It’s such a dream, I’m still pinching myself. To the powers that be who are making this possible – thank you, thank you, thank you. We’re already scoping out yarn shopping possibilities. How do you say knitting in Slovak?

Back to reality, I indulged in some Elann bargains, darn that Elann newsletter with its irresistible bargains. My package arrived two days after ordering. Baby Heads and Toes will yield that adorable hat on the cover and the felted puppy slippers within. The Bombolo is for Christmas gift scarf knitting and the Esprit, elasticized cotton, is to try some of the patterns from Elann’s recent chemo cap design contest.

Now that’s something you don’t see very often – Vancouver’s North Shore covered in snow.This is sunrise from my deck – it’s a photo of a large neighbourhood, built up against the mountain, but you can hardly tell for the snow. I’ve lived in Vancouver for 22 years and I can count on one hand the number of snowstorms of this caliber. Thank goodness.

Cute story sent by my daughter, who was in Comox, BC this weekend visiting her roomie’s family: "I decided it would be fun to make a snowman at midnight, so I dragged Sarah along. We made a decent snowman and went to bed. I woke up in the morning only to be told that our snowman was knocked over; the dog next door had come over and peed on it. So, Willy, Sarah’s dog, (seeing as it’s HIS backyard) had to pee on it too. Then the other dog came running over, peed on it again, and stole the carrot (which is actually Willy’s all time favourite treat – he comes running when he hears a vegetable peeler). Uh-oh dogfight! While all this was happening, Sarah was banging on the window yelling, "Boys! NO! Stop peeing on the snowman!!!" That’s a picture of Willy, the culprit, all tuckered out from his adventure.

It’s perfect knitting weather. Here’s my current "movie watching" project, a narrower version of my own Herringbone Rib Scarf, in Malabrigo. Thanks to famous Sandy, who featured it on her blog, traffic on my blog has doubled and I’ve had 18 requests for the pattern. If I’ve sent you a pattern, let me know when you’ve started it and I’ll list you on my right column with the other Ribsters. If you are a blogless knitter, send me a photo when you’re finished and I’ll list you then and add you to the gallery.

How do you lose underwear?This isn’t a thong I’m talking about, really, can you see me in a thong? Nor is it my usual all cotton granny panties. This is the body shaper I bought for my daughter’s wedding this summer. One of those satiny stretchy torture devices that goes from underneath the girls to halfway down the thighs. It’s the steamroller of body bulge, major cosmetic surgery in a foundation (that’s what they called the lingerie department in my younger days – foundations).

Since the wedding I’ve had two opportunities to benefit from this miracle worker but I can’t find it anywhere. "No doubt" say those familiar with my house, the place famous for task oriented clutter. It ‘s been swallowed up by the gremlins.You know when I’ll find it? A few years down the road, when it no longer fits, while I’m searching for something totally unrelated. Isn’t that how it goes?

My knitting clutter is slowly dissipating as I present to you another FO. This isn’t the best picture of Knitty’s Branching Out, lace-wise, but I thought the colours looked great against our wild huckleberry bush. It’s made from Handmaiden Silk Maiden. There is a slight mistake in the first third, discovered as I was finishing, where one set of leaves is smaller than the others, the result of missing a line in the chart. But I’m taking a lesson from my water colour teacher. If a student is concerned about a funny looking leaf in a painting, he’ll remind us that nature is not perfect; there’s a certain amount of beauty in imperfection. Works for me.

Voila! Lady Eleanor in natural light, the colours looking more accurate than past photos. We had a fair chunk of the weekend sans rain but ten minutes after the picture was taken it started dripping again. Now we’re in full blown storm mode again and still boiling our water.

The specs:

1. Noro Silk Garden alternating rows between colours 211 and 225 on US size 9 needles.

2. Embarrassed to admit it – I used 17 skeins, most from E-Bay and a 40% off sale.

3. Never one to follow a pattern as written, I made this one 25% larger than specified – in the width.

4. Instead of woven fringe on the short ends, I crocheted the long edge and added fringe a la Charlotte’s Web.

5. Not wanting to crush the three dimensional woven look, I decided not to block it. Besides I wouldn’t want to subject it to our murky water right now.

6. Start to finish time, about eight weeks, a leisurely pace.

7. I’ve promised myself no more major projects until I work on Marina again. Stay tuned for progress.

As a person without TV, I don’t know how far news travels. For those outside of Vancouver, you might have heard Friday, that the entire area is on a "boil water advisory." Our recent storms have caused slides to falll in to our reservoirs. There is a measure of water turbidity (cloudiness) that is reported to the public when levels reach a 5. On friday we topped out at 90!

In the beginning there was much confusion regarding safety and even Starbucks ceased services. There were many unhappy people around the office on Friday, sleepy, headachy and going through caffeine withdrawal. Although we still have to boil our water, the health department gave the OK to coffeeshops to resume brewing.

We have pink sheepy twins at our house. Last night the 16 yr old and I went to see Godspell. Serta was the corporate sponsor of the theatre group. In honour of the company’s 75th anniversary they were giving away their pink sheep for a donation to breast cancer research. One will soon be flying off to the East Coast, on a mission of cheer.

…and washed Vancouver out. This is our sky earlier this week and the same sky a minute later. And that’s how it’s looked since, day and night:

This weather system is known as the Pineapple express, a storm system out of Hawaii. What’s worse than experiencing the Pineapple Express in Vancouver? Experiencing it in Hawaii on your honeymoon like my daughter and new husband did. They have just returned and even their "rain or shine" activities were cancelled. Now, what’s worse than experiencing the Pineapple Express on your honeymoon? Living through it again in Saskatchewan, if the temperatures are low enough, to turn it to snow. Get your shovels out, Elina and Sean.

Without any natural light, it’s been difficult photographing Lady Eleanor, so instead I give you my travel project from the Wisconsin/Minnesota trip. It’s Branching Out in Maiden Silk by Handmaiden Yarns. The colours were a perfect match of the maples in nearby Edgemont Village a few weeks back, future home to Urban Yarn’s second location. That’s BIG NEWS for those of us on the North Shore. A full sized yarn shop within walking distance! OK it’s a long walk, but it’ll be worth it.

Can you take it? Another teenage boy story. Warning: this is high in the ewwww content (Dorothy, maybe you don’t want to read this, I remember your reaction to other too much information posts in the past). Bear with me, guys, this is my therapy.

Sitting in the car 8:14 in the morning, waiting for Bryant. Our target departure time is 8:00. He gets in the car.

"I can’t find my clear nose ring." He has a nose piercing but attends a school with anti-piercing legislation and inserts this thing as a substitute. As if that negates the fact that he has his nose pierced.

"I have little sympathy for that," says the Mom (that would be me), immediately shutting down all further communication for the duration of the ride. 

Eight minutes later we arrive at the school. He gets out, closing the door with gusto. "You’re welcome," says I.

Driving to work three minutes later my phone rings. Actually it clucks like a chicken. It’s him with an ecstatic voice, "Mom, you want to hear the coolest thing?

"Remember that nose ring I lost?" Give me some credit. How could I possibly forget in the three passing minutes? I admit, I suffer from middle age memory, but this isn’t one of those things that I’d forget like where did I put my keys or why am I standing in the storage closet with no clue what I came in for.

"He continues, "When I got into school I coughed and the nose ring was in my mouth! Isn’t that totally cool?" It had gone through his nose, up his nasal passage, into his throat and back up into his mouth.

See what I have to put up with? I do love him dearly, but he tries my patience. This is my boy:

Knitting update: one giant sized Lady Eleanor is off the needles! Photos soon, after I get over this miserable case of bronchitis.

My recent trip allowed me to eat my way across the Midwest. I love to eat and mostly I do so in a healthy manner. It’s usually easy for me as I don’t have much of a sweet tooth.

This trip was an exception. I thought as you grow older, your taste buds die off; one of the reasons kids don’t eat stuff – it tastes too strong. Can you imagine, as a child I hated pizza and hamburgers? You’d never know it now.

Here are the eating highlights of my trip:

1. Michael’s Frozen Custard, Madison, WI. It was the reminiscent of the original Carvel of my New York youth. Velvety vanilla, the Touch Me of ice cream. There’s the knitting content.

2. The Village Square Cafe, Harmony MN. Oh mama, homemade beef stroganoff soup, noodles from scratch, bread sticks like I’ve never had, hot, crispy on the outside, tender, but fully done in the middle,and the best peach pie I’ve ever tasted. There’s an expensive pie shop here on Vancouver’s North Shore and I’ve never been able to comprehend its lure – thick, chewy crust and dry innards. The Village Square had the thinnest of crispy crusts and a fresh tasting juicy fruit filling. Cost of the meal? $5.25, about the same as a slice alone from the Savary Island Pie Company in West Vancouver.

3. Bilotti’s Italian Village, Rochester, MN. Nine people, one bottle of Australian red wine for the three lushes including me, lots of soft drinks, most of us eating the evening special – Minnesota walleye pike fillet, a 7 oz. steak, spaghetti and meat sauce, and a salad. The total cost? $89 for nine people. Ok, they deducted the cost of my SIL’s meal since it was delivered after everyone else had eaten, so technically it was $89 for eight. Decent costumer service to boot! Honey, in Vancouver $89 for two is typical. Add in sporadic service.

Have I wrecked your diet yet? Misery loves company, let me continue.

4. Dessert at my SIL’s, Eyota, MN. Actually my SIL doesn’t cook much can’t take credit. It was all cousin Lena’s fault. Lena is from Denmark and she made us a decadent chocolate "cake" from 70% cocoa chocolate bars; light as souffle, rich as fudge. It was BIL Greg’s fault that we had ice cream on top. Wash that down with "Emma," a Danish fruit brandy made from raspberries, blueberries and strawberries. Lena’s daughter helped develop the recipe for this nectar. In the first month 150,000 bottles were sold.

5. One last temptation, the Berghoff Cafe, Terminal 1, Concourse C, Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. The demise of traditional airline meals (why isn’t anyone wiping away tears?), has sprung a crop of $7.99 day old sandwich stands. Why eat Chili’s pre-made when you can indulge in the descendant of a 100 year old Chicago tradition for $5.50? Hand carved roast turkey, roast beef, or corned beef sandwiches. I mean individually hand carved. There was a woman in front of me ordering a turkey sandwich. I told the carver I was ordering the same so he could carve enough turkey for two. No, replied the conscientious employee, we carve each sandwich individually. He replaced the turkey breast, took it out again and cut the meat for my sandwich. Add fresh rye bread and unprocessed Swiss cheese, it was very difficult to wait two hours into my flight to indulge in sandwich heaven.

No more, I promise. I apologize for the superlatives, but they’re the truth. I’m not getting on a scale for a year.

After the wedding I spent a few days in Southeastern MN with my SIL and BIL, parents of the bride. It felt like coming home as there are only three family members I can think of from my younger years who still live in the same house. And what a house it is, over 150 years old:

Greg, my BIL, took cousin Lena from Denmark, and me on a tour of Bluff Country. We stopped in several little towns along the Amish Byway, every place having it’s motto worthy of mention on Prairie Home Companion: Fountain – The sink hole capital of the USA," Lanesboro – "A short trip you’ll long remember", and Harmony, "the town that’s more than a name."  I had the feeling that every elected official of the Bluffs took the same marketing course that emphasized taglines.

Harmony is home to Austin’s Angora Goats and Mohair Gifts, home to everything purple and as an added bonus – their own yarn shop. They have a motto, too – "Touch a baby goat, feel the fiber on the hoof." I kid you not (groan); I couldn’t have made that one up of I tried. All their yarn was from their goats and sheep, spun and dyed locally. If you were hungry they also sold goat fudge and sausage.

Entering the gift shop we were asked what brought us to Minnesota. "A wedding," we said together "Better’n a funeral," said Lady Austin. My BIL then made the mistake of commenting that I had said mohair can be itchy. We were ordered to sit down and remove our socks and shoes, and given brand new socks to sample. We were commanded to replace our shoes and walk around. Then we were required to describe our first experience with mohair socks. It’s like walking on clouds. Lady Austin told us that we could wear ’em for a week of huntin’ before they’d need washing. Before we left we were the proud owners of three pairs of mohair socks. Below are pictures of Austin’s Bonnie and one of their yarns, a mixture of mohair and rayon thread.

I don’t know why I have this passion for the prairies, the rolling hills and big sky. I think I could live there again if it weren’t for the snow. I’ll settle for visiting and someday doing the Bluff Country bike trail. If you’re ever in the area you should visit because, as they say in their literature, "Wherever you are you’re not far."

Meet Amalie, my niece, and her new husband, Luke. You know what, Luke? You’ve married a pretty sensible woman. I know because she planned a knitting project just for the honeymoon. You might think it strange, but taking along your knitting assures that flights will be on time and you won’t be stuck in traffic jams. I know this is true because any time I leave my knitting at home I’m always delayed in one way or another.

Finally back in Vancouver. It was a great trip including stops at three yarn shops and a trip to an angora goat farm. I practiced great restraint by buying only two skeins of yarn, one being a gift for my knitting SIL – the mother of the sensible bride.

More later, just wanted to post a quick update.